OKAY. The image hosting software still isn't working properly, but at least it's being worked on by the support team. And I can still upload things through my FTP client and the in browser control panel, it's just the convenience of the specific image hosting that's lacking- for now.

Cool things I did this week: more hand-sewing projects! I made a big bow for Lumos and matching-ish ones for my Judal & Hakuryuu nuis! :D


SHE LOOKS SO PRECIOUS the bow is soooooo cute on her + it has a bell and it makes such a good sound, I keep dying from how cute she is ;w;

( more pictures of Lumos + the bow itself )

making bows for my Madara and Kohaku nuis definitely inspired me, and I'm sooooo excited to have some for these little shits, too ♥
Besides that...it's mostly been playing enstars, stressing about my website, and watching Liz fucking crush it at Queen's Blood in FFVII: Rebirth XD I've played some more of the OG, too, but...idk I haven't been feeling great so I've been sleeping a lot. I would really love if this could stop happening ;w;

BUT!!!! I wan to make more cute things!!!!! I have a bunch of YouTube videos open on how to make rosettes for pins/ita bags, and I wanna use that knowledge to make things for my nuis. The Kohaku & Madara ones that I usually carry around are a unique size for nuis - basically only the company that makes them makes outfits/accessories for them - so I also wanna make them some more clothes. I just gotta keep inspiring myself!!

Also I promised myself I was done buying Chinese enstars merch because of the tariffs - even though I love most of it, hence why I've got a bunch I preordered - but they just teased the new collection of merch and it's REALLY FUCKING CUTE!!!!!!!! Everyone has fox ears and fluffy kimonos for most of it, and then they're making fox nuis of all the characters.

AS IF THE KITTY CAT KIGU NUIS I ORDERED AREN'T CUTE ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's killing me XD I guess I'll have to see how all the tariffs shake out/how feasible buying from a reseller in Japan or else is, but damn if I don't want basically that whole collection ;w; Life is hard!!!

Oh, right...on Madara's birthday I did a single scout on his birthday box because I didn't have much else to spare, and this fucker gave me a third copy of his demon 5* XD


I'm not even mad, just surprised!!!!!
.....and then in ENG I did multiple 10 scouts and got NOTHING OF HIS. I did get some 5* cards, just not his. Which like. Okay. I'm glad to have them, but I'm also kinda desperately hoping to max out his first feature scout and get the secret color...maybe someday.

Lemme finish this off with a great pic I took the other night: Double Face in their pristine unicorn kigus...on an old pay phone.


I love putting them dumb places~

After buying all the ribbon and shit a few weeks ago, I finally finished one of the projects I bought it for!!!!!! I made a big cute bow for my Madara nui!!!!!!!!!!!!!


lookit him and his big dumb bow he's so cuuuuuuuuuute
It was very frustrating at times, because I'm actually terrible at making bows- this has been a problem since I was trying to make lolita outfits in my late teens and apparently I still struggle with them ;w; BUT I DID IT!!!! I conquered my fears and pushed through to make something adorable ♥

ALSO LIZ GOT ME A GIFT!!!!!!!!!


adorable kohamada pins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're so sweet *w* They're also playing the horrendous card game mini game that's part of FFVII Rebirth, because we needed more mini games????(We didn't) But it hits in the right part of their autism brain, so they've been having fun.

Today, we made another pilgrimage to our Joanns ;w; I'm very attached to this particular Joanns, because it's the one I went to in college (the first time, so the late 00s) and then I lived basically across the street from it when I first moved back to Baltimore in 2016. It is THE Joanns for both times I've lived in this city, so it's the one that's hitting me hardest.

....to be fair, I haven't been up to Pittsburgh to visit the Monroeville Joanns, aka where I got my start with sewing & cosplay, because I'm just not ready yet. I'm gonna see if we can make a short trip up to say goodbye to it before it closes...but it's so hard to think about ;w;

ANYWAY. In an attempt to fight my depression over the bankruptcy, I had Liz take a couple fun pics of me in the fabric section of the Joanns. I wanna remember all the joy it brought me over the years ♥


also featuring my incredibly good Pusheen cape~
We'd gone with purpose, tho- Liz and I wanna make Kohaku and Madara's first feature scout outfits to wear to DC's Sakura Matsuri this year, and what better time to pick up fabric than during....the closing........sobs ;w;

I'M TRYING TO HOLD IT TOGETHER I'm still very sick so it's hitting me so hard ;w; I want to enjoy working on cosplay and shit, I just...sobs.


the boys with the fabric we got today!!!
We managed to get navy fabric for Madara's pants, the green for his top, the gold for....all his bullshit gold bits, and the light pink for Kohaku's top. We're gonna have to wrangle the embroidery machine for Madara, but I'm honestly pretty excited to figure it out :D

And then we had a time getting Taco Bell for dinner...the one right near the Joanns was randomly closed for the weekend???? And then the next closest one wouldn't let us place an online order...because???????? So we had to loop around and go to yet a different one, which I will always remember for the time they forgot to include the crunch part of my crunchwrap in 2011 XD

I got crunchwrap sliders today and they did include the crunch~ Literally it only happened that one time, but I can't get it out of my mind XD WHATEVER it was tasty!!!!

I've been curled up on the couch since we got home, because I do not feel good. Even with taking more DayQuil, I am not...doing well.....which is frustrating, because I have shit to do! I'm waaaaaay behind on the Switch event- not so much that I can't catch up, but I was hoping to be further than this already.

Also, I barely slept last night, because I was so exhausted and sick that I couldn't fall asleep. I ended up doing quick editing on some selfies from katsu~~~

( click click so I don't destroy everyone's friend pages~ )

Okay....still not feeling great, but I'm gonna make an attempt at playing the JP event some... If it goes badly, y'all can find me...idk, working on sewing my nuis clothes instead? Maybe if I use a tiny, incredibly hot tool (smol iron), I'll feel better XD

I'm trying this thing where I don't only sew things in the ~month leading up to anime conventions. Crazy, I know XD But I made a cute sewing buddy after Otakon - a black and orange plush cat with pockets for various sewing accessories + places to attach pins - and I'm aiming to do the same sorta thing now. Liz found a site with nui-related patterns and I decided to jump right into making some kimonos for Double Face~

Yesterday, I picked out some fabric - finally putting years of hoarding scraps to good use! - and watched one of the tutorials. And then todaaaaaaay, Liz and I went out to check out one of our local crafting stores! I'm distraught over Joanns closing, but luckily we live in a big enough city that we have other options. There are a few, but we left late enough in the day that we only had time to check out one.


and it was really nice!!! they didn't have a ton of apparel fabric, but what they had was high quality :D
And then Liz and I found the most dangerous place: a pay what you want craft supplies store. I can't even get into it right now; we stopped for a very brief bit and still left with a bunch XD We'll be going back later for SURE. I did manage to pick up some very thin cording for the kimonos, which is what we kinda went out for in the first place...so that was good!

( some pics of the fabric I picked out and the beginnings of the project :D )

Anyway! I'm waiting for glue to dry, but I'll be getting back to the teeny tiny kimonos soon~ It's not my normal kind of project - I hate working with such small things - but for the nuis...anything is possible uwu

CON CRUNCH CON CRUNCH CON CRUUUUUUUUNCH~~~~~~

aka we leave for Katsucon in approximately 12 hours and we're still sewing and we're in the midst of a minor emergency, starring Pat's sewing machine. His is a really nice, top of the line machine, super good at everything it does, etc etc etc, but it's been in need of servicing for a bit now. And of course now is the time it's decided to be a difficult little shit!!!!! Right when we were working on the top stitching for Legato's coat, aka when it HAS to look perfect.

ENTER THE SAVIOR: Increase Mather, the $90 entry level machine I got my freshman year of college (January 2009), the most basic of basic. He was technically a joint purchase with one of my closest friends in college, but I ended up with him after we both left the school.


Named because of something Cait was reading for class and immediately covered in stickers, because 19-year-old me had some good taste ;D I didn't have a proper table in my dorm room, so I sat on the floor like gremlin and worked XD


Some of the stickers have faded and the plastic has started to yellow, but he's still here and he still works!!!!!
I'm so fucking glad I have a backup machine. Liz does too - theirs is basically a slightly newer version of mine - and we're making use of both. Mine is set up with black thread for sewing all the lining and Liz's has the thicker white thread for sewing pleather. The needles and specialty foot we got are universal, so they work perfectly with even our basic machines.

Just!!!! This isn't the best machine by any means, but I got it because I wanted to make my own cosplays and it's still helping me, even all these years later ;w;

yes I've been up for 20+ hours, how did you know?